The present invention relates to a mechanism for enveloping large round bales, formed in a bale-forming chamber, with a wrap material such as plastic sheet or net and more particularly relates to a housing for holding a supply of such wrap material in a position for being fed into the bale-forming chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,691,503, granted to Josef Frerich on Sept. 8, 1987, discloses a surface wrap housing structure, of the type described above, mounted on the rear of a round baler discharge gate and being substantially enclosed except for an open front which is closed by a panel mounted transversely across the rear of the gate. The housing is vertically pivotally mounted for swinging away from the gate to a lowered position disposing its open front at a height approximating that of the bed of a pickup truck or wagon so that rolls of wrap material carried on such a bed may be loaded into the housing without the need for lifting the relatively heavy rolls of wrap material through any great distance. Also, a spreader roll is rotatably supported from legs which depend from a forward portion of the housing when the latter is in its raised, operative position. Once the roll of wrap material is placed in the lowered housing, a length of material may be pulled from the latter and threaded about the spreader roll and inserted into the nip of a pair of feed rolls. The housing may then be raised to position the roll for use in wrapping bales formed in the bale-forming chamber. While this structure provides for easy loading of wrap material rolls into the housing and threading of the wrap feed mechanism, the housing is somewhat expensive to fabricate as an integral piece and substantial clearance must be provided for permitting the suspended spreader roll to pivot with the housing.